


Identity Crisis

by Beltenebra



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-19 01:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11302653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beltenebra/pseuds/Beltenebra
Summary: Ryoma decides to board Karupin at a pet hotel while he competes in the US Open. When the hotel delivers thewrong cathe has to track Karupin down. ... Again.





	Identity Crisis

**Author's Note:**

> For SASO 2017 - "Crossover AU where Ryoma and Yuri are both traveling for international tournaments and check their cats into the same pet hotel, and then the hotel mixes up their cats and they have to track each other down to get their own cats back."

For the millionth time in his career Ryoma wished that he could keep all of the good parts of pro tennis, i.e. the actual tennis playing, and do away with the crap parts like interviews and endorsement commercials. 

He had enjoyed every moment of this year’s US Open that actually involved tennis. Unfortunately they came packaged with so much that wasn’t tennis. Inui was always happy to remind him that image and media interaction was integral to a professional athletic career. Which Ryoma totally _knows_. It doesn’t mean he has to be happy about it. Inui always seemed to take perverse pleasure in his interview dread. If his sempai weren’t such a skilled coach and trainer he would’ve fired his smug bespectacled face ages ago. Also he did come with the added benefit of years of experience putting up with Ryoma. He knew he wasn’t the easiest person to work with, Inui actually made a pretty good buffer between him and the rest of their team. 

It had been a good tournament. Ryoma had good matches for the quarters and semis and his finals match was actually a challenge. He had always enjoyed playing Nadal. The man’s raw power often reminded him of playing with Momo. Nadal might be the king of clay but the hard courts of Flushing were undisputedly Ryoma’s this year. 

He smiled faintly to himself remembering the last set and marshalled the last of his energy to drag himself back to his suite after a long day of interviews. He was looking forward to some room service, a hot bath, and being reunited with his cat. Karupin didn’t usually travel with him for tournaments but his useless father was on extended vacation somewhere and Nanako-san was on her honeymoon. He had scrambled to find a last minute cat sitter but Inui had mailed him a list of excellent boarding options so Ryoma had decided to bring him along this time. The pet hotel should have delivered Karupin to his hotel suite about an hour ago. He could give his cat a one night break before having to be packed away in a carrier for another plane ride. 

He opened the door to find the carrier on a table next to a bag of food, treats, and toys. Everything looked right but the high-pitched yowl that emerged from the depths of the crate was not a sound he had ever heard Karupin make. Eyes wide, he rushed to open the carrier. The cat inside was indeed a fluffy Himalayan but one that was a little too small, with points that were a few shades too dark, and an unearthly screech to accompany her angrily lashing tail. Definitely not Karupin. 

He glared at the protesting feline who sat on her haunches and returned his glare, seemingly completely unimpressed with his lack of ability to remedy the mix up immediately. 

… now what?

***

A phone call to Inui followed by several phone calls to the pet hotel confirmed that they had been boarding two Himalayans that week and had sent the cats to the wrong hotels. Amid a flurry of apologies from the staff member on the phone Ryoma got the name and hotel of the other cat owner. Another phone call to the other owner’s hotel revealed that said other owner, Yuri Plisetsky, was not there at the moment and they couldn’t share his contact details but would Ryoma like to leave a message? 

No he really didn’t. He could feel the headache building, he hated talking on the phone. And he felt both annoyed by and sorry for angry NotKarupin who was stalking around his hotel suite being deeply affronted that he wasn’t Yuri Plisetsky. 

He eventually managed to get a manager to give him the name of the place where Yuri Plisetsky currently was. It was an ice complex. Huh. A quick call to the front desk arranged for a taxi. Then he just had to coax NotKarupin back into her carrier. 

After several fruitless minutes of chasing her around the suite - he must never tell Inui about this or he would make angry cat chasing part of Ryoma’s compulsory practice, even his split step was useless - he was at a loss. He slumped down on the edge of the bed and just looked at her. The cat stared back, confident in her evasion skills. 

“Look, I know you’re pissed. I don’t blame you. I’m sorry I’m not your person. I do _like_ cats though. And I really miss mine. So just get back in the carrier and I’ll take you to your owner.” He felt like a complete moron pleading aloud with a cat but he let the silence limp along for another moment before adding, “Please?” 

Damned if she didn’t jump up on the table and trot into the carrier. Not for the first time today Ryoma wondered if he was having some kind of episode. 

The security at the ice complex seemed tight but the cat carrier was a compelling argument. The security people called someone and soon Ryoma and the cat were being escorted deeper into the building. 

Clearly some kind of practice was happening at the rink. A whole bunch of ice skaters in athletic practice clothes were spinning and swooping around on the ice or perched on the bleachers. Large banners proclaimed that there was some kind of Stars on Ice event happening. Yuri Plisetsky must be an ice star or associated with one. Before he could make his presence known NotKarupin meowed plaintively and more importantly, loudly. 

“Princess?!” 

A blonde head shot up across the rink and the man shot over to stop in front of Ryoma. He was off the ice before Ryoma could blink and as soon as the carrier door swung open he swept the cat up in his arms. 

Oh, now she was quiet - the perfect picture of sweet affection, nuzzling her owner’s face. 

“Thank goodness, Yurio!” 

Other skaters were starting to drift over now. The one who piped up first looked familiar. Katsuki? Ryoma vaguely remembered meeting him at some required reception media thing for international level Japanese athletes. 

“Oh! You’re Echizen Ryoma, right?” Seems like Katsuki had a better memory than him. 

“Yeah. Um. Do you have my cat?” 

Both skaters turned to look behind them where a group of people were clustered around looking delighted. Someone moved and he could see Karupin, totally contentedly batting at a cat toy someone was dangling above him. Jeez. 

“Hey,” the blonde guy said in lightly accented English, “I’m Yuri Plisetsky. Thank you for taking care of Pyocha.” 

“It was… fine.” 

Yuri chuckled, clearly familiar with his cat’s personality. "She comes by her attitude honestly.”

Ryoma went to collect Karupin who twined around his ankles purring, clearly happy to see him. But he wasn’t fooled, Karupin was happy to see anyone he thought might feed or play with him. 

“At least she was upset without her owner around. Traitor.” Karupin just meowed happily. 

Some of the coach types started making noises about people getting back to practice and Ryoma was curious enough to watch for a few minutes after getting Karupin safely into his rightful crate. He kind of knew that figure skating was a thing, of course. Everyone in Japan had been talking about it last year when Katsuki won those tournaments. But he had never seen it up close. He had to admit that it was pretty impressive. 

He hoped that his encounter with figure skaters didn’t give Inui any new training ideas. He could see it now, Inui calculating the physics involved in jump rotations and muttering to himself about core strength. You wouldn’t ever see Ryoma willingly putting blades on his feet and getting onto ice but he couldn’t deny that it was cool. 

Not as cool as tennis, of course. But nothing was as great as tennis. Karupin meowed in his crate. 

Except maybe cats.


End file.
